Japan Accepts 50% Cut In Bluefin Quota, Makes Major Concessionsff
16 October 2006
Australia Japan has buckled under Australian pressure, accepting a severe cut in its southern bluefin tuna catch after officials accused it of illegally taking fish worth up to $8 billion over the past 20 years.
The reduction came in international talks where the Australian Government attacked Japanese fishers for their deceit, describing the bluefin scandal as among the world’s worst cases of overfishing.
Australian officials refused Japanese demands to tone down their language, as they used the case to demand changes to the way the fishery was regulated.
The scandal was uncovered when Australian investigators found that the amount of the highly prized sashimi fish being sold in Japanese markets was more than double the officially reported catch of bluefin.
Last month, Australian Fisheries Management Authority chief executive Richard McLoughlin put the illegal haul at $2 billion over 20 years in a speech where he described the action as an outrageous fraud.
But at a meeting of the Commission for the Conservation of Southern Bluefin Tuna in Japan last week, Australian delegation leader Glenn Hurry said the 178,000 tons of fish was worth $6-8 billion.
He blamed “elements of the Japanese longline industryâ€, and said in an opening statement that he had been struggling to describe the magnitude of the “almost unforgivable†overcatch.
â€In Australia’s time spent fighting illegal fishing around the world over the last 10 years, this … overcatch seems to stand alone,†he said.
According to meeting sources, Japan asked that Mr. Hurry’s statement be withdrawn, but Australia refused.
After several days of talks at the Japanese tuna port of Miyazaki, Japan backed down, agreeing on Friday to halve its official catch to 3000 tons.
Australia’s allocation of 5265 tons makes it the world’s largest single player.
â€This is a major win for global conservation,†federal Fisheries Minister Eric Abetz said. “The decision is the result of several years’ investigation and diplomacy, and cements Australia's reputation as a world leader in fisheries conservation.â€
The actual cut for Japan including its overcatch is more than 12,000 tons, according to Australian fishermen.
Tuna Boat Owners Association president Brian Jeffriess estimated the overcatch was up to 10,000 tons a year.
He said he believed that Japan finally had realized it was not in its long-term interests to continue overcatching.
The total global catch of southern bluefin tuna — which is officially listed as critically endangered — was reduced from 14,810 to 11,810 tons.
Japan has also accepted a series of controls it had fought against for years, including a tuna conservation commission observer on every vessel, a boat-to-market paper trail, and regulation over trans-shipping at sea.
â€The depressing point is that if Japan had honored its agreements … the stock would now have come close to recovering to 1980 levels, which are considered close to being biologically safe,†said Glenn Sant, director for Oceania of the wildlife trade-monitoring organization, TRAFFIC.
Until Japan proved trustworthy, all fisheries commissions should “improve their compliance arrangements and audit the Japanese marketâ€.
